Scheepjes has launched a brand new issue of bookazine YARN. This crafty magazines issues two times a year, always sporting a different theme. This time the theme is Dutch Masters, which makes me incredibly proud. I was allowed to design a couple of patterns for this bookazine, as well as write an article. But I was mostly honoured to be the featured blogger of this YARN Dutch Masters, as I was allowed to fill two whole pages with what inspires me. This not only humbled me, but it turned out to be a bit of an emotional journey as well.

I set out to work with the early work by Mondriaan to inspire me. This was before he joined famous Dutch art movement De Stijl and was mostly drawn to the light of Dutch sunsets and sunrises. The skies of Holland has been an inspiration for many artists and if you ever caught a glimpse of the hundreds of colours that appear during a Dutch sunset, you can understand why. It did mean coming out of my comfort zone, as I use purple and pink for this design. Eek! It's possible to line this bag (in the pattern, I am explaining to you how), but you don't have to. I used Scheepjes Secret Garden and Softfun Denim. The fact that the model has red hair and is carrying my bag full of dahlias (love those flowers!), makes me so proud of this project.I also designed a single motif. A large square, inspired by one of my favourite paintings 'The Girl with the Pearl Earring' by Vermeer. If you'd like to make a pillowcase or blanket from squares like these, you can simply join them as you go. And the square is rather large, so you'll be finished quicker than you think. Maar oh, wat ben ik trots dat ik als blogger in het zonnetje werd gezet en dat ik twee pagina's mocht vullen met wat mij inspireert. Ik wist het eigenlijk meteen. De vrouwen die mij elke dag opnieuw inspireren zouden op deze pagina's centraal staan. Er is wat mij betreft te weinig aandacht aan de positieve kracht en energie van vrouwen. Wij vrouwen kunnen letterlijk bergen verzetten als we samenwerken. Dat merk ik bijna dagelijks in mijn werk en de dames die ik heb leren kennen dankzij het haken, bewijzen het ook maar weer. Ik vond het ontzettend bijzonder om twee bijzondere vrouwen op deze pagina's te mogen zien terugkomen. Mijn oma's. Naar wie ik ben vernoemd, die ik veel te kort gekend heb, maar die ik elke dag bij me heb. Een plek in de zon die zij volgens mij in hun leven niet genoeg hebben gekregen.

But jeez, I was so proud to be the featured blogger for this issue of Yarn. It meant I was allowed to fill two whole pages with things that inspire me. And I immediately knew that I wanted to feature inspirational women. I think the world often forget how powerful we women are. If we women pull together, we can literally move mountains and change the world. I notice this in my job every day and ever since I met some amazing women through crocheting and blogging, I am even more certain about this. But I felt especially honoured to see two very important women to me, on these pages. My grandmothers, my oma's (as we say in Dutch). I was named after them, I wasn't allowed enough time with them, and they walk with me every step of the wat. They now have a little place in the sun, which I believe they never really got (or not enough anyway) when they were still with us. Het nieuwe nummer van Yarn is vanaf komende week te koop bij de meeste Scheepjes verkooppunten. Je kunt het bookazine ook hier bestellen, dan wordt het komende woensdag verstuurd. Ik hoop dat je dit magazine leuk vindt! Ik wens je in ieder geval een heel fijn weekend.

The new Yarn issue is available now. You can order the bookazine here, it's been shipped internationally. I hope you will like this magazine and I hope you'll have a lovely weekend!